“…the gift isn’t something separate from you. It’s your work that brings the gift into the world, not the other way around.” (p. 169).
Elija Brighton is a painter and a legacy human or a human descendant that was left behind when many Ascended to a higher and ‘better’ state of being. Legacies are given one chance in this future world to Ascend, by winning the ‘creative’ Olympics. Eli has a real chance to win because he is the best painter in the world – when he’s in the fugue state that is. He doesn’t know how to control the fugue state or what makes it happen. Understanding and controlling the fugue state is the only thing standing in the way of him winning, or so he thinks.

I love that this story discusses the soul in a science fiction (futuristic/technological) context and in a way that ties it directly into the importance of the plot. The concept of a soul is not made to feel overtly religious or overtly philosophical.

At times the plot did feel mildly contrived and the concept of Ascender versus Legacy was brought up again and again. Eli’s thoughts go again and again into the fact that Ascenders (especially his Ascender crush Lenora) don’t give Legacies the time of day unless it suits their purposes.

I liked how Quinn connected the fugue state to channeling Eli’s inner creativity and getting in touch with his inner self, his very soul.

As the book and the Olympic games went on, they reminded me more and more of the Hunger Games, just with less violence and more philosophical/moral questions involved around the end goal of Ascendance.

I loved Basha and wanted more of her in the book, she seemed like more of a dynamic character than Kamali, but I liked Kamali as well.

This novel was published through Createspace Independent Publishing Platform on February 19th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.